Josh walked up to the buffet table and asked the steward if he could get a ham steak, with russet potatoes. The steward nodded and headed back into the galley, returning 3 minutes later, carrying a plate which had the ha steak and several small russet potatoes.

He picked up a drink, an iced green tea, looked around the room. Many of the tables were crowded with his shipmates. He couldn’t see any empty seats there, so he headed to an empty table near the back of the room, one with gave him a view of the passing stars.

He was still wondering why the ship was being recalled….why was there an admiral onboard….and if the ship was headed for dry dock, or maybe even decommissioned, what would happen to him and the crew.

He cut into his steak, cutting off a piece of the it and raising the fork into his mouth. Then he cut one of the potatoes in half and picked up one of the pieces with the fork, raised it to his mouth, and he ate it.

As he was eating, he saw the captain, first officer and the admiral leave the room. Every so often, some of the crew also started leaving. Soon it was just the stewards and him left. The stewards were going around the room gathering dishes and glasses and bringing them to the galley. Josh finally finished his dinner, downed the last of his iced tea, picked up the plate and glass, and brought them to the galley. “Sir, that wasn’t necessary.” one of the stewards said.

“You had enough to do tonight. I wanted to do my part.” Josh replied. Nodded to the steward, who nodded back, then Josh left.

The meal was more then he usually had for dinner, so he decided to head to the gym and work off some of the meal.

When he arrived, the gym was deserted. He stripped off his uniform and put his workout gear on.

He started with his stretching routine, loosening up his muscles. Then it was on to the bike, which he rode for twenty minutes, starting at the slowest speed then working up to the fastest setting.

After a five-minute break, he got on the treadmill for twenty minutes, again starting at the slowest setting then working up to the fastest seating, a hard uphill all out run.

When he was done on the treadmill, he drank some water out of his bottle, while sitting on the floor, his back to the wall. Already he had worked up a generous sweat. 

Ten minutes later, he started one the weights, starting with arm curls with a twenty-five-pound weight. He did this for fifteen minutes for each arm.

Then he did arm curls with a two hundred weight barbell, starting at his thighs, up to his chest. He did this for as long as his arms could take the strain. He dropped the barbell on the mat, he’ll put it away after he rested.

Twenty minutes later, he did some dead lifts with the barbell, before he placed it back on the rack. He removed the weights and stored them in their proper spot.

Now, he just laid on the floor, letting his body relax. He took deep breaths through his nose and exhaled slowly through his mouth. He might have fallen asleep at some point since he was totally relaxed.

He stood up, no aches anywhere. He moved and faced a wall. He leaned over and brought his legs up until he was in a handstand. He moved away from the wall, keeping his balance. Then, for the first time, for him anyway, he did a set of pushups, bringing his face almost to the mat. He could feel the pain in his arms and shoulders, but he pushed through. Since it was the first time that he was doing this, he kept the routine easy, stopping after ten reps.

He brought his legs down, and he stood back up on his legs. He policed the area, leaning up and sweat that may have dripped off his face. Looking around, he was satisfied that the place was as clean as when he entered…maybe even cleaner.

He left the gym, returned to his quarters, took a cold shower, and got into bed, alerting the computer to wake him in five hours for his duty shift.

He fell asleep quickly, and only awoke when the computer announced, “This is your wake-up request. Please respond to confirm.”

Josh sat up, “Confirmed, computer.”